NSW HSC students limited to one take-home assessment per subject
Year 12 students in New South Wales will be limited to just one take-home assessment worth no more than 15% of the school-based assessment mark for each HSC course, under new rules to combat the use of AI announced this morning.
School-based assessment is worth 50% of a student’s HSC result, meaning the sole take-home assessment would only be worth 7.5% of the total HSC mark under the changes. The plan comes after the state’s minister for education, Prue Car, asked the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) to look at measures to protect student learning.
Right now, schools can determine how much of that 50% school assessment is given through take-home tasks. Schools will still be able to use a range of assessment types for each course, including exams, oral tasks and process diaries, but the take-home component will be dramatically reduced in value.
HSC major works are not included in the restrictions, but schools will still be required to authenticate the work.
The limit will apply to students in the class of 2027 beginning HSC studies in term 4 this year, and to students beginning year 11 in term 1, 2027.
Car said in a statement:
The message this sends to schools and communities more broadly is that we are committed to protecting the teaching and learning happening in schools.
When students outsource their learning – whether that is to tutors, classmates or artificial intelligence, they are missing out on the rigorous, high-quality education they need to set themselves up for the future.
Key events
Rowland says One Nation needs to look at its own behaviour amid political extremism
Rowland also spoke about the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, and her criticism of the Albanese government. After the Secret Harbour byelection, Anthony Albanese told Queensland Labor’s state conference that One Nation was “dangerous, divisive and downright dishonest”.
In a strongly worded riposte on social media, Hanson on Monday said Albanese’s comments “crossed a line” and that “words have consequences”.
“That is how political violence is incited,” she wrote.
Rowland yesterday backed the PM, saying:
I think some of One Nation’s elements, particularly where they have been recruiting or otherwise giving a platform to extremist views … that is dangerous … I think it is also dangerous, at a time when social cohesion has never been more important, to trade on the politics of division.
The attorney general said this morning being a high-profile woman in politics is dangerous, as is being a politician in general, and observed “extremism” currently confronting politicians across the spectrum. But Rowland suggested Hanson’s own rhetoric was also playing a role in this political landscape. She told RN:
When you admit that you have a party that has been infiltrated by extremists … this is exactly the kind of dangers to which politicians are being put in this country.
I don’t wish ill on Ms Hanson in a physical way. I don’t wish any politician any ill will, irrespective of their political persuasion. But I think sometimes when comments like this are made, one needs to look at oneself and one’s behaviour and the kinds of standards that they accept into their own party and their own ideology.
Attorney general says any action on smartglasses needs to strike ‘balance’ without ‘stifling innovation’
Michelle Rowland, the attorney general, said the spread of smartglasses has become an important issue and concern to many Australians, but the government needs to fully understand the pros and cons to new technology before banning or limiting its use.
Rowland spoke to RN Breakfast this morning after Australia’s online safety regulator urged smartglasses companies to automatically blur people’s faces among other changes as the government faces pressure to ban the technology.
The attorney general told RN Breakfast this morning there were legitimate reasons to use the glasses, including for those with vision impairment, but there were legitimate concerns as well:
One of the key points here when we talk about addressing digital harms is that we identify the harms and we need to address those harms without stifling innovation … and we need to understand that Australians have always been early adopters. So it is about striking that balance.
I do want to stress that whilst I completely understand and there are very legitimate concerns that people have about nefarious use, the government doesn’t want to see that nefarious use. But we do want to make sure that we get this right.
43 Australians still missing, with concerns growing ‘every day, every hour’ that goes by, Wong says
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says there are still 43 Australian missing after the flooding in Nepal, saying the government holds grave concerns for their safety that only gets worse as the days go by.
This is such a distressing time and I know this is so difficult for the family and friends of those 43 Australians.
She said her thoughts are with the family of Michael Keats, a New South Wales man who was confirmed to be one of the victims of the catastrophe.
Every day, every hour, only increases our concern for those who have not been found and remain missing, and that is many Australians. … You can imagine how many families and friends are traumatised as a consequence.
Read more here:
Man fatally shot during Sydney home invasion
NSW police are investigating after a man was fatally shot during a home invasion in Sydney’s south-west on Tuesday morning.
Officials said emergency services were called to a home in Glen Alpine around 3.40am. On arrival, officers found a man suffering from a gunshot wound inside the house. The man, thought to be in his 20s, died at the scene. He has not yet been formally identified.
Police were told unknown offenders left the scene a short time before they arrived. A crime scene has been established, with the state crime command’s homicide squad assisting.
Patrick Commins
AI will help boost productivity performance back up to average, Treasury says
Treasury says artificial intelligence will help drag Australia’s productivity performance back to its historical average over coming years, according to departmental briefing papers.
With the government set to release its latest intergenerational report this month, Jim Chalmers said “AI is shaping up to be the biggest economic transformation in our lifetime”.
This is a gamechanging technology which will impact every part of our economy and society, in every corner of our country. I’m confident we can maximise the economic upside and minimise the risks.
Australia’s productivity growth has stalled, with the nation no more productive now than it was at the beginning of the decade.
Amid a national and sometimes heated debate over the regulation of AI and its related technologies, such as datacentres, the Treasury briefing paper said “AI is the first substantive, credible global productivity growth accelerant in almost two decades”.
But Treasury officials advised that, for now, the adoption of AI across the economy was not expected to usher in a new era of turbocharged growth, even as they flagged the unusually wide range of forecasts.
Instead, the “baseline” forecast was that “AI will support the achievement of the long-term productivity assumption of 1.2%” – a forecast outlined in the lead up to this year’s budget.
Josh Taylor
NSW workers to march for extra public holiday
The Shop and Warehouse Workers Union (SDA) say over 400 workers will march to NSW parliament on Tuesday with a petition signed by over 10,000 workers and their families to call for an additional public holiday for 1 September.
The union says NSW has the fewest public holidays in any state or territory in Australia, with 11 statewide public holidays, eight of which are in the first half of the year.
The ACT, Victoria, NT and WA have the most at 13.
The union and workers are calling for 1 September to be declared a new public holiday in the state as a “family and community day”.
The petition will be handed to the NSW industrial relations minister, Sophie Cotsis.
SDA NSW/ACT secretary Bernie Smith said:
NSW workers work just as hard as everyone else, and they deserve the same opportunities to spend time with their families and friends.
Spring is all about new beginnings and that is exactly what a 1 September public holiday would provide for NSW.
Good morning, Nick Visser here to take the blog reins. Let’s giddy up.
Most capital city home prices fall below $1m in August
Luca Ittimani
The typical capital city home price has slipped back below $1m as buyers fail to show up in a “buyers’ market”, property data firm Cotality has reported.
The median price in the capitals surpassed $1m for the first time back in October but has steadily fallen this year with demand suppressed by rising interest rates and weak confidence in the economy. By the end of August, it fell to $990,394, Cotality found.
The typical home price in Perth passed $1m in March, but slipped to $999,987 by the end of August.
Sydney and Brisbane are back to being the only capitals with median prices above $1m. Sydney’s is at $1.22m, $93,000 below its peak earlier this year, while Brisbane is at $1.08m, down $30,000 from its peak.
Cotality’s research director, Tim Lawless, said nearly every capital city suburb had now seen prices fall, yet far fewer homes were being sold compared with this time last year, meaning listings on the market were building up. He said:
Longer selling times, larger vendor discounting and persistently low auction clearance rates all point to a buyer’s market, yet buyers are lacking the confidence to transact at the moment.
Nepali and Tibetan communities mourn in Melbourne
Adeshola Ore
Members of Melbourne’s Nepali and Tibetan communities gathered in the city’s Federation Square last night to remember the victims of the Nepal-Tibet flood.
More than 40 Australians are among thousands of people who remain missing after the natural disaster last week. The overall death toll is at least 810 people.
At the vigil, volunteers unfurled a sign on the ground – encircled by candlelight – that read “Vic united for Nepal”.
The event, organised by the Non-Resident Nepali Association’s Victorian branch, was attended by the Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, and Labor and opposition MPs.
Speaking to the crowd of about 400 people, Carroll said:
I know so many of your hearts are breaking right now. Look around you, all of Victoria stands behind you and every candle in Federation Square is lit up for you. You are not alone.
Carroll said the Victoria government had pledged to donate $100,000 to Australia’s immediate efforts in Nepal.
Josh Taylor
‘A lot of anger … but very few real solutions’, Wong says of Hanson
Penny Wong has said Labor accepts there’s a message from WA Labor’s loss to One Nation in the Secret Harbour byelection, but says the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has “very few real solutions”.
Wong told ABC’s 7.30 program the loss was “very disappointing”, but that Labor knows many Australians “believe the status quo is not delivering for them”.
She pointed to policies such a investment in Medicare, childcare and schools, as well as tax cuts and tax changes as the federal government’s response. Wong accepted that the public had not taken the changes on board in their vote in WA, but said Hanson was not offering solutions.
She said:
I accept there’s a message sent in this byelection for us. I accept that. And I think we understand that.
We understand the importance of delivering real change and as someone who sits in the Senate with Pauline Hanson, what I would say to you is that she is … there’s a lot of anger and a lot of complaints, but really very few solutions.
You can read political editor Tom McIlroy’s analysis on the byelection here:
Aid on way to Nepal amid grave concerns for missing Australians, Wong says
Josh Taylor
An RAAF flight containing hygiene kits, shelter and solar lights will leave for Nepal this morning, as the foreign affairs minister and acting prime minister, Penny Wong, says grave concerns are held over the 43 missing Australians after the Nepal-Tibet flash flood.
More than 4,400 people are still missing on both sides of the border, with more than 930 people confirmed dead. Wong told the ABC’s 7.30 program last night that the federal government is urgently seeking to find the whereabouts of the 43 missing Australians.
She said the Australian government has provided $8m in aid so far and noted that Australian citizens had donated $2m to a public appeal – something that the federal government is matching.
More aid will leave today, she said:
We are deploying an RAAF aircraft to deliver these kits which are designed to support people in circumstances of natural disasters that destroy infrastructure and their shelter.
Whether it’s shelter kits, lights, hygiene kits, these are the things needed for those people who are facing the devastation of their homes and their communities.
On the 43 missing Australians, Wong said Australia has been engaging with the Nepali and Chinese governments but the recovery and search effort is “very difficult”.
Nine of the 43 missing were on the Chinese side of the border at the time of the floods, but no more information was available on the 43 missing, she said.
I first want to again express what I’ve been expressing to the families and friends of the 43 Australians who are not accounted for, that this is such a difficult time, it’s an incredibly distressing, traumatic time. I think all Australians are with you. And certainly we are with you. We are working to do whatever we can and to provide any information we obtain.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
